Although I paint full-time now my background as a filmmaker remains a driving influence in how I approach my picture-making. I’m passionate about story and I naturally find a narrative everywhere I look. I painted this from a photo I took in Tetuan, Morocco during a location scout for a action/drama series that we were developing at the time. I was struck by the melancholy expression on his face. He looked lost, trapped in his thoughts and the weight of his circumstances. He may, in fact, have been the happiest dude in Morocco who was on his way to the shops but paused as he tried to remember the one really important thing his wife wanted him to pick up from the market. “Was it baking powder, or baking soda she wanted?!” Who knows what his story actually is. All I know is that he has one and I find it fascinating imagining what it could be. Often times it’s not even about the other person, instead you see in their eyes your own narrative reflected back at you.